It appears that you want to overseed. You can literally find hundreds of pages on overseeding if you type the term into Google. You can also find a ton of conversations on this forum if you just search back a bit. In fact, there has been a lot of talk about it as of late. Here is my take, but take it for what it is worth since I am by far not one of the resident gurus around here. However, since I have been reading the board and other sites religiously for the past year, while nursing my own lawn back to respectability, I have a somewhat good handle on it. - I have a feeling that most people would recommend starting from scratch. Here is why...If you are going to overseed, you need to start by killing the weeds. Judging from the pictures, you probably won't have much left anyway after that. It doesn't really look like your lawn is salvageable. - If you do decide to salvage it, one problem you will have is matching up the grass type. Since it is old and pre-dates you living there, odds are you will have to guess. - Once you see some of the photos of other people's lawns on this forum, my guess is that you will be itching to start anew with some premium seed. - Lastly, if you are going to nurse this one back to health, my guess is that you will end up spending more money on weed killing chemicals and spreading MORE of them (more harmful for your family) than if you just killed the whole thing and started from scratch. A thick, new lawn requires much fewer chemicals than a patchy lawn that is in the process of being nursed back to health. Of course, you can always try my route and nurse it back to health. I have been doing that for the last year. I have had my battles with grubs, weeds, bare patches and mismatched seed...but I am winning the battle. The best part is that I am slowly moving towards going organic.....Judging from the look of your lawn, if you really want to avoid a total renovation, it is going to take a few years, with the fall months devoted to overseeding and overseeding again, and with the spring months dedicated to applying preemergent and weed control. My best guess: - It will take you 1 year to have an awesome lawn if you start from scratch in the fall. - It will take you 3 years if you try to work with what you have.

Well, I've submitted 3 soil samples. They're free and I'm a sucker for excessive information in any situation. I took one from my garden and two lawn samples that were each a composite of three holes. The two lawn samples are from two very different areas of my lawn: area 1 which was mostly wooded areas that were timbered and grubbed when my home was built, and area 2 which was also wooded but was additionally disturbed by the installation of my septic system and traffic from when the house was built (I'm assuming). Area 2 lawn has consistently performed poorer over the last few years and is always the first to go. It also receives more direct sunlight, from about 10AM till 4PM in the hot NC summer. I always mulch my clippings with the exception of a few times when the lawn got out of hand and I had to either rake them up or blow them into the woods so they wouldn't suffocate the lawn. I do not have mulching blades, but am looking at getting a pair for my mower to try out on the leaves this fall. Responding to above: structure: haven't had a chance to do the jar test, but the soil appears to be mostly the B1 horizon of a cecil sandy loam soil. Most of the characteristic Ap horizon is absent, likely due to lack of agricultural use of the soil given that it is on the wooded slope above a drainage. The soil balls and crumbles well when moist, forms very hard chunks when baked and will form a short ribbon. Soil is laced with gravel and occasional cobbles. (it's bliss to try and till, took hours to carve out my garden) drainage: I haven't tested. Suitable drainage was a major issue when they put septic systems in, due both to topography and poor soils in some areas.. smell: earthy soil smell, pleasant. Life: 0 earthworms for all the holes I dug, including a huge one in the garden for my son to play in with my 30 yr old metal Tonka trucks while I was working. I don't know if I have the time or funds to do compost this fall. I might have to get by till the early spring on what I have out there currently. I did find a source for corn/soybean meal in the area. Should I go with corn and try and start building up my good fungi now, or go for the added kick that soybean meal reputedly has? When do I apply relative to my seeding? I've read it takes several weeks for the meal to break down. I don't want to feed the crabgrass.

Sounds like Turf Type Tall Fescue is the way to go, I'm not sure that's enough sun for Kentucky Bluegrass. But seeding time is not until Fall. In the meanwhile, you may want to read up on NTEP tests for your area and check out seedsuperstore.com, see which one of the cultivars does best in NJ. Getting good seed makes a huge difference in the end result, though it costs more upfront. When you do seed, the seed will need to be watered 5-6 times a day 5-10 minutes at a time for the first 6-7 days, so unless you have an irrigation system make plans for that. Get a soil test done - people around here recommend Logan Labs - and see if there's any deficiencies that you can address in the meanwhile. Once it's time to seed all you will need is seed - ~8 pounds/1000 square feet, seed to soil contact, a bag of starter fertilizer and water to keep the seed moist.

If that tree in the first picture is yours, you need to unbury the trunk down to where the roots flare out. Trunk bark will get a fungus and kill the tree when it is left buried like that. Root bark is different and should be buried, but to have some not buried is not a problem. Back to the lawn: Watering: Deep and infrequent is the mantra for watering. This is for all turf grass all over the place. Deep means 1 inch all at one time. Put some cat food or tuna cans around the yard, and time how long it takes your sprinkler(s) to fill all the cans. Memorize that time. That will be the time you water from now on. My hose, sprinkler and water pressure takes 8 full hours to fill the cans. Your time will likely be less. I like gentle watering. As for watering frequency, that depends on the daytime air temperature. With temps in the 90s, deep water once per week. With temps in the 80s, deep water once every 2 weeks. With temps in the 70s, deep water once every 3 weeks. With temps below 70, deep water once a month. Note that you have to keep up with quickly changing temps in the spring and fall. This deep and infrequent schedule works in Phoenix and in Vermont, so it should work for you. The reason for deep and infrequent is to grow deeper, more drought resistant roots and to allow the soil to dry completely at the surface for several days before watering again. If it rains, reset your calendar to account for the rainfall. Mowing: Most lawns will work best when mulch mowed at the mower's highest setting. Bermuda, centipede, and creeping bentgrass work best when mowed at the mower's lowest setting. Unless you know the lawn is bermuda, I would mow high for now. Fertilizer: Wait until Memorial Day to fertilize. It's tempting to fertilize early, but please wait. If you simply must do something now, use an organic fertilizer at the rate of 15 pounds per 1,000 square feet. Herbicide: I would wait until April to be sure all the weeds are up and growing and so is the grass. Then spot spray the weeds with Weed-b-Gon or Weed-b-Gon Chickweed, Clover, and Oxalis Killer. Send some more pictures once the grass is up and growing - late April. We can help you more once we see it relative to the weeds. The best pictures are taken on a cloudy day, so you got that. Yours are perfect.